North Carolina State University Athletics
Akinkuotu Back For More
3/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track
March 18, 2011
49er Classic Live Stats
From Friendless to Fastest
RALEIGH, N.C. - A'Tolani Akinkuotu admits there's nothing like six months in the real world to make an already fast sprinter run faster.
Akinuotu had planned to forego his final season of eligibility for the NC State men's track team to get on with his education. The native of Nigeria, who came to NC State from South Central High School in Greenville, N.C., graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering last spring, but chose to apply to a half-dozen law schools.
But he was wait-listed for his top choices, meaning he would have to wait a full year before enrolling in classes. He took a job for a local engineering outsourcing company, hoping to earn a little cash before beginning his three years of studying for a law degree. He has since been accepted to Wake Forest, Campbell, Howard and Temple and is still awaiting word from North Carolina and Maryland.
In late November, however, Akinuotu began feeling the urge to compete again, having left some unfinished business on the track. In just his second meet of the outdoor season - following a record-setting, All-America performance during the indoor season in the 60-meter dash - Akinkuotu tore his hamstring and was never really the same.
He had a final season of eligibility in outdoor track and began inquiring about returning to school. After all the necessary paperwork was completed, Akinuotu was back on campus when classes started in January to take undergraduate classes in philosophy and political science and to begin training with the track team.
He did not compete in the just-completed indoor season, but he will be in the blocks Friday when the Wolfpack participates in the 49er Classic at UNC Charlotte. He's scheduled to run in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Live results are available throughout Friday and Saturday at www.liveresults.com.
Last year, at the same event, Akinkuotu ran the 100-meter dash in 10.5 seconds, a regional qualifying time. But his hamstring injury slowed him down for the rest of the season.
The only problem, so far, has been getting back into shape for competition. From the end of last season, throughout the summer and fall, Akinkuotu was just trying to stay in good shape. Now, however, he's trying to get back to his previous level of performance.
"Mentally, I wasn't training to get back into competition," he said. "When I got hurt, I knew I wanted to at least train enough to prove that I was fast again, if not to compete but to at least get back to be as fast as I was.
"I was already in the process of doing that when I decided to come back."
Akinkuotu, a two-time AAA state champion as a senior at South Central High, originally came to the Wolfpack track team as a walk-on. He hadn't planned to run college track at all, because getting his engineering degree was his sole focus. But, like last fall, he missed the competition.
But he needed some motivation to get back to his previous level.
"It was dull when I first started training, because I was training by myself," Akinkuotu said. "Then when T.J. [Graham] started working out with us, it got sharper in a hurry. I have someone I'm training with who is at my level of training and performance, if not higher."
Graham is the football wide receiver and former high school state champion in the 100- and 200-meters who joined the Wolfpack for the first time in January after three years of playing football only. He qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in both the 60-meter and 200-meter dash, earning second-team All-America honors in the 60.
"T.J. is a different kind of athlete," Akinkuotu said. "He has all the intangibles. He is a natural athlete and he is one of the hardest working people I have ever seen. Training with him, he doesn't allow me to take a day off. He's one of those people who make you want to compete.
"Practicing with him is like running in a track meet every day."
Along with sophomore Ben Major, Graham and Akinkuotu now give the Wolfpack depth in its sprinter corps that head coach Rollie Geiger hopes will develop throughout the outdoor season, in the hopes of putting together a 4X100 relay team that will compete for an ACC Championship.
For now, though, Akinkuotu hopes to stay healthy and lower his times in the sprints.
"I think I've done more stretching, more rehabbing and taken more pre-emptive measures than I've ever done in my college career," Akinkuotu said. "I think I'm in pretty good shape. The most important thing now is to go to some track meets and get into competition shape.
"No matter how much you practice you can't recreate the atmosphere of a meet or a race."
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
